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FinCEN seeks comment on monthly SAR report value

WASHINGTON (8/10/10)—Credit unions and other financial institutions will soon be encouraged to give their insight on the usefulness of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's (FinCEN’s) updates on its Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), the U.S. Treasury announced this week. Specifically, FinCEN said it is seeking input on its SAR Activity Review - Trends, Tips & Issues release and its SAR Activity Review - By the Numbers release. An opinion survey, which will be provided online, will be completely voluntary. FinCEN in a release said that it hopes to learn more about the needs of financial institutions and to "identify opportunities to improve" the reports. The survey results will be reported to FinCEN "only in the aggregate," according to the release. "Individual responses will be grouped anonymously along with those of other FinCEN customers," the release added. The activity reviews are released on a monthly basis and cover both the latest results of SARs and how financial institutions can best deal with fraudulent activity. FinCEN earlier this year reported that the total amount of SARs filed decreased slightly to 1.28 million in 2009, down from the 1.29 million SARs recorded in 2008.